The premise behind David Hurn's Wales As Is is simple, and in keeping with the photographer's lifelong antipathy to artifice: to strip back the misty-eyed myth and scythe through the romanticism surrounding the Welsh landscape. "My idea of landscape involved people", he writes, introducing a book that depicts not unspoilt natural beauty but an environment shaped (for better or worse) by phases of human activity. The point is made by the cover photo of Ty Newydd on Anglesey, an ancient stone burial chamber propped up with brick-and-mortar pillars, and by a zoomed-out image of Hanter Hill, a rocky outcrop in Powys that offers stunning views but is festooned with discarded drinks cans.
Wales As Is conducts a sweeping nationwide survey, taking in iconic locations (Rhossili, Portmeirion, Pentre Ifan, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Tintern Abbey on Hurn's doorstep) as well as curious eccentricities (the once-tarmacked beach at Porthcawl, the petrol pump in rural Powys where the bill was added to your tab in the local pub).
Unfortunately, though, the fact-packed captions by Ceri Jackson - interesting though they are - prove an unwelcome distraction from the images, making it less a photobook than a lavishly illustrated guidebook. The pictures themselves, predominantly taken in the last 20 years, are loosely and unevenly grouped by subject matter, in some cases set disappointingly small, and - by Hurn's high standards, at least - often relatively unremarkable.
(An edited version of this review appeared on the Buzz website.)
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